Re: Software Licensing Agreement - Public Domain dedication

tja[_at_]mds.rmit.edu.au wrote:

>>One such risk is that once dedicated to the public domain a work (the
>>original work "OW") is free to be chopped up, modified and used by
>>whomever, and then locked up as a new copyrighted work with
>>all rights
>>reserved.
>>
>>
>Doesn't the originality test solve this? It does in jurisdictions in the
>British tradition.
>tja
>
>

Yes, a work must be original to be protected, but if you mix parts of a public domain work with original content to create a new work where do you draw the line? If there are multiple works based on an underlying PD work, can the earlier users eat up some of the territory and exclude others? Disney made millions by producing films based on public domain stories but then sues others for using the same stories because it's too close to their work. See e.g. Walt Disney Productions v. Filmation Associates, 628 F.Supp. 871(1986) (Filmation liable for story boards of Pinocchio that looked too much like Disney's work). I'm not sure how this would play out in a computer software scenario, but I'd still characterize dedication to the public domain as a risk (if the dedicator wants to continue to modify and develop the software).

-Andy Received on Fri Feb 10 2006 - 04:30:00 GMT